Chapter Six

The sound the paper ripping into shreds was the only keeping Mel from crying. She hated crying, she hated it so much. Her parents had always made it out to be something bad and that thought process was not easy to get out of. 

Mel threw the paper to the ground and took out her phone. Not one text or call. Nobody cared. Did they even notice she was gone? Was she that useless?

She sat in the hotel room Achilles and she was staying in for the night. He had gone to get them food, but Mel couldn't think straight. Everything felt like it was going to fast. Mel picked the pieces of paper off of the ground and poured them into the small trashcan. Her chest held a fiery pain and it seemed like nothing could reduce it.

"I have-" 

Achilles stopped his sentence and took in Mel's appearance. His wolf whined as he saw how distraught she looked. 

"Why are you crying?"

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A small girl was hunched up underneath a large oak tree. Salty water poured from her eyes as she sobbed and screamed. So many emotions were present in her body and she had no idea how to let them all out. 

The girl picked up a small rock. She pulled her favorite purple marker from her pocket and drew a small face on the rock she had just found. 

"Will you listen to me, Rocco?"

The girl made the rock nod. Another set of tears fell done her face as she shoved the marker back in her pocket.

"My mom and dad started saying mean things to me today. They were saying that they don't want me anymore and that I should just leave. I don't understand, Rocco. Why would my mommy and dad want me to leave? I don't think I did anything? They still love me, Rocco. I know they do. They have too."

The little girl stared into the sky. She couldn't think of one reason for what had happened to her.

"And I said," the girls choked on her tears. "I said that they were being mean and- and my mommy she-"

The girl's face contorted as she recalled what had just happened. She felt her cheek and whimpered at the blood she pulled away. She couldn't believe that the people she was supposed to love and trust had done this to her. Did her mommy and dad not love her? Was she not good enough? The girl let out a loud sob.

"Why are you crying?" A voice asked harshly.

"Mel? Why are you crying?"

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Mel was thrown back into reality and nearly threw up. Her lip began to quiver and she felt hotness take over her body. It felt like the hot sun she had sat in that day. She hadn't remembered that until now. 

"Mel? Are you okay?"

Mel turned to her very worried mate.

"I," Mel's voice broke. "No, I'm not."

Achilles felt like a doctor was dissecting his heart in his chest. He wanted to take away everything single thing that was making her sad and kill it. He would do anything to make her happy.

"Can I hug you?" Achilles asked. He hoped with everything thing in him that she would say he could.

"Please hug me," Mel said.

Achilles wrapped his long, muscular arms around Mel's torso and squeezed her tightly. He never wanted to let her go. He wanted to keep her safe and protected in his arms forever. 

Mel shoved her face in Achilles' chest and almost began to cry again. She could feel his warmth seeping into every one of her pores. As his arms encircled her she felt safe. She didn't trust him though, but then again Mel felt like she couldn't trust anybody.

The memory confused her, but it seemed as soon as she flashed back to she remembered how she felt that day. She remembered the feeling of being betrayed and hurt. The only thing was, she had never remembered that day before. She had never remembered her parents ever doing anything to hurt her.

She felt her body flinch as she pulled away from Achilles. Her skin was crawling, maybe somebody was planting ideas in her head. That sounded more likely. But who would want to hurt her?

Achilles looked at Mel. He recognized the distant look in her eyes. The crying and movements that she had suddenly taken on. He rolled his shoulders back uncomfortably.

"Mel," Achilles said. "Did it feel like you were back there? Like you were reliving it?"

Mel swallowed the lump in her throat, "It was like I was watching a movie that I couldn't pause or turn off, no matter how scary it was."

Achilles felt his heart clench as she confirmed what he thought. She was having a flashback. 

"I-I know what it's like," Achilles uttered.

"What is wrong with me Achilles?"

Achilles looked into Mel's glassy eyes. He wanted to tell her that nothing was wrong that she was perfect. But his throat was closing in.  

"It's called PTSD."

"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? I don't think I have that. I didn't even remember that until I just saw it right..."

"Right then?" Achilles finished for her. "I repressed mine too. It happened until I smelled it. My sister came home with a new perfume and I relived it, I was there again," Achilles' eyes fogged up before he continued. "Was there something that triggered your senses? Something you saw? Something you smelled?"

Mel's eyes widened, "You said..."

"What? What did I say?"

Thoughts raced through Mel's head at the speed of light. If she just remembered this what else had she forgotten about her past? What was actually true?

"Why are you crying? That's what the person said that found me."

Achilles nodded, "I know that this is hard, but can you tell me what happened? Just whatever you can, you can stop whenever you want. I couldn't talk about what happened for years after and I still can't talk about it well."

"I think that telling you might help me remember more of what I have repressed. Maybe then we can start to figure out what is going on."

"Thank Goddess I'm not the only one that thought something fishy was going on here. Your whole situation had seemed off to me since I met you."

"Then I say we figure it out," Mel took a deep breath and sat done on one of the beds. "together."

Achilles hesitantly sat down on the narrow bed with Mel. His body instantly relaxed as Mel was now close to him. He knew whatever she was about to say would be hard for him to hear, he just hoped he could keep it together for her.

Mel closed her eyes and began, "I was sitting under a big tree. I think I was five? Yes, five. In what I saw young me had a rock in her hand. She drew a face on him and called him Rocco."

Mel winced. It sounded like something normal. Something that a silly little kid would do; happily make themselves a friend. Only, Mel could feel the emotions again and she knew that her young self was anything but happy at that moment.

Achilles was patient as Mel took a moment's pause. He slowly moved his hand closer to hers so that they were brushing together. She needed to know that he was here for her.

Mel looked down at their touching hands. She could do this.

"Young me asked if she could tell the rock something. She told the rock that her parents said- said some things to her," No, I can shut down, Mel thought. "Apparently they said- they said that they didn't want her anymore. That she should run away."

Achilles felt anger slithering its way into his chest. His wolf wasn't helping as he growled and clawed. On their own accord, his fists clenched, but that was the only way that you could tell Achilles was battling himself right now.

"This is the bad part," Mel whispered.

Achilles didn't know that he could take a worse part. Mel seemed to pick up on this and took his hand. Then again, maybe she needed the comfort too.

"She told her parents that they were being mean and I think they hurt her. She touched her head and blood came off onto her hand. But I think the worst part was that I could feel that she still loved them. That I  still love them."

Achilles felt the uneasy feeling of rage. His wolf wanted to kill the dirty people that had hurt his mate. Achilles would be lying if he didn't want to as well.

"You-"

Achilles was cut off with his own growl as his wolf took control of his body. 

This wasn't an uncommon thing to happen when werewolves felt intense feelings, yet Mel still shied back. Achilles' eyes switched to dark gold and Mel immediately knew that his wolf was in control now.

Mel felt her heart pump viciously as tears continued to fall down her face. 

Achilles' wolf looked at her with an innocent expression when he noticed Mel's form. It was easy to tell that he was confused.

"Sad?" Achilles' wolf asked walking over to Mel. He pointed at the tears streaming done her face and frowned.

"Yes, sad," Mel answered.

Achilles' wolf tilted his head as if he was listening to something. He slowly took his hand and placed it over Mel's heart.

"Fast," he said.

Mel knew what he was trying to say. Wolves only knew some human language and it was the same way for humans with wolf language. But despite the language barrier Mel seemed to know exactly what Achilles' wolf meant. 

"It's because I'm scared."

"Scared?" He pointed to himself.

He thinks I'm scared of him. Am I scared of him?

"I think- I think that I'm scared of a lot of things right now. I'm scared of what I don't remember about when I was little. I'm scared that nobody really cares about me. I'm scared because I'm remembering what happened to me and- and I think remembering is making me a little bit scared of you."

Achilles' shoulder sagged. It seemed that his wolf only heard that Mel was scared of him. 

"Mate scared. Mate sad. Want mate safe. Want mate..." his words trailed off and he growled in frustration.

Mel looked at his stressed and worrying form. She quickly rushed forward and grabbed his hand. Immediately they both relaxed. Mel felt his rough palm. She fell something odd and quickly flip his hand so she could look at his palm. There were small scars littering his palm. Mel wondered how they got there.

"I'm not saying that I'm scared of you Achill-" Mel paused. "You're not Achilles though. What if I call you Cain?"

"Cain," he repeated. A smile pulled across his face.

Mel could tell he liked it. His smile was contagious as she wore a small one of her own. She wished they could just stay happy.

"Anyway, Cain, I'm not scared of you. It's just, I'm started to remember how I was hurt and some of the things that you do remind me of it."

Cain let out a fierce growl, "Hurt mate."

Mel squeezed his hand tight, "It's okay Cain. I'm okay."

Cain shook his head, "No. Scared."

Mel was started. He was right. She wasn't in the slightest bit okay and it wouldn't benefit her to pretend that she was.

"You're right."

Cain growled again. He despised the idea of anybody touching his mate, much less hurting her. He wanted so badly to tell her that he would fix it, that he would protect her but he couldn't. Not only had he failed before, but he couldn't even speak her language. This made him all the angrier. Rage boiled inside of him as he began to shake violently.

"Cain?" Mel asked.

She could see his form shaking. He would shift soon if she did nothing. Mel moved and sat on the narrow bed.

"Sit," she ordered.

Cain did so and sat next to her. He was still growing and shaking.

"Find hurt mate," he growled out. "Kill. Mate safe."

Mel's eyes widened. He wanted to kill who had hurt her. The thing was, as far as she knew, they were dead. She needed to play another angle at this.

"Cain, I need you right now. I need you to make me feel safe right now. Can you do that?"

Cain's golden eyes widened, "Safe."

"Yes."

Mel flopped back onto the bed and Cain followed suit. He quickly pulled Mel into his chest. He held her tightly as if his life depended on it. Mel could feel his strong body through her thin shirt. She swallowed.

Small growls still escaped Cain and he tightly held onto Mel, but after a while, they became less frequent. He was calming down, and that meant Achilles' would be able to take control back soon.

"Mine," he whispered quietly, and before Mel knew it Achilles' body flew off of the bed.

"Oh, my-Mel I'm so sorry!" Achilles' exclaimed.

Mel smiled," It's okay. I feel safe now."

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Hey, y'all! It's been a bit.  I was going through it lol, but I'm am back! How are you all?

Reading Questions:

-What do you think of Cain?

-What do think Mel's parents were up too?

-What do you think Mel and Achilles are going to do next?